This invention is a novel method of staining and detecting protozoa and fungi for observation under a light microscope, and with application to the qualitative and quantitative detection of microsporidia in environmental water samples.
Fungi and microsporidia can be differentiated from other microorganisms based on their chitin content. Current dyes used to stain chitin in fungi and microsporidia are based on fluorescent optical brighteners (Review by Ruchel et al., 2001), requiring a fluorescent microscope for observation. Details are not observable by this method.
A need exists in the art for the identification of the characteristic structures in microsporidian spores, including but not limited to thick spore walls, vacuoles, beltlike stripes and sporoplasms, that can be implemented using a light microscope, and recorded using a digital camera.